Dorms and Other Things
by MerylJeilian
Summary: Time passes, because it waits for nothing, and eventually it gives college students all over the world a kick in the shin and a slap of responsibility called "adulthood" on their heads. Not that it really stopped Seki from being...Seki. Future fic, drabble series with AU shots.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to my version of completely public self-indulgence. AKA, shipping for the sake of shipping and writing about it despite the non-activity of the fandom XD**

* * *

I .

Yokoi had thought that there would nothing more irritating than sitting next to Seki-kun, and his toys and games and general _Seki-kun-ness_. But _oh no,_ the universe wanted to prove her silly assumptions wrong. And while no, she wasn't sitting next to Seki-kun in her university, and no, they didn't have any classes together, all of those factors were _null_ to the plain, simple fact that:

She was neighbors with Seki.

 _Dorm_ neighbors.

(She should have gone to the all-girls dorms instead. Why didn't she go to the all-girls dorms instead?)

Upon seeing her one morning, that dreaded morning where she was rushing against the tides of time to finish a project her groupmates were procrastinating on, the door next to hers opened to reveal a shocked face right before she skidded to a stop next to him.

"I'm sorry!" Yokoi apologized, the words tumbling out from her lips in a rush, before her stressed mind finally caught up to recognize the face she was staring at in close proximity.

Seki-kun. Toshinari Seki-kun.

His green eyes widened at the sight of her gob smacked face, and there was the thought of _oh god why_ flitting across Yokoi's mind before she rallied and stepped away from him hastily, tossing another apology to him before she rushed out. Not because she was embarrassed (because she wasn't) but because _her deadline was closing in on her,_ and she didn't have time to waste.

She was a whole new Yokoi now! She wouldn't get distracted with Seki-kun's foolishness!

II .

The sound of quiet explosions were easily excusable.

Weren't they?

No, no, they were.

Yoki gave a weary glance to the wall on her left, knowing that it was the wall she shared with her former seatmate.

They could be from a show, or a video, or a small, contained _chemical explosion._

But that would be ridiculous, because dorm inspections happened too regularly for Seki-kun to be able to pull something off so extravagant in a place where he couldn't store materials like his actual room did.

 _Ridiculous_.

(Just like it would be ridiculous for a person to construct entire battles in class, right?)

Oh god, she needed to know.

Yokoi managed to push out her seat from her desk before common sense kicked her in the brain and forced her to sit down again. Right, she was a new Yokoi, and she had new responsibilities and things she had to do and she couldn't afford to get distracted by Seki-kun's nonsense like in highscool! This was college. Everything was _serious_ now.

Right.

Yokoi settled into her seat before picking up her pencil again. She had a quiz to get ready for.

There were several knocks on the wall.

 _Seki-kun probably just knocked something over._

There was another. This time in an unsteady rhythm, accompanied by the faint sound of water splashing.

 _Dynamite fishing? That's horrible! Think about the earth!_

There was the sound of another explosion, and this time Yokoi could clearly hear the water splashing everywhere. There was a thud on wooden floors, and Yokoi grimly hoped Seki-kun had slipped on something.

A quiet meow.

Good _god,_ she really couldn't study like this!

Yokoi pushed out of her desk and got up from her chair with a purpose, striding towards her door and out to the hallway to knock on Seki's, her foot tapping on the floor impatiently.

There was a pause before she heard faint footsteps coming to the door in quick succession, and the knob jiggled briefly before Seki-kun's plain, grey door swung open to reveal Seki-kun himself.

He blinked.

She glared.

He winced and tried to cover her view of the inside of his room with several flailing limbs. A futile move, as Yokoi gasped in horror at the scene of crime behind him and (rudely) pushed past him to cradle the robot family's son in her hand.

He was covered in red, and Yokoi gave a wincing Seki an inscenced stare.

" _What,_ " she hissed with all the rage of an offended mother, " _Did you do?_ "

Seki raised his arms in a placating gesture, nevermind all the red staining his shirt and the wooden floor and—

Yokoi swallowed back an irritated sigh and looked at robot son. The plastic, the part that had been white, were now stained pink.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her gaze back at Seki, who inched back and away from her with a cringe that conveyed discomfort, and also fear but that was beside the point.

Yokoi pointed at the reddened floor and left the room before quickly coming back with a mop and handing it to him. Seki blinked, because she was terrifying at the worst of times, but got the message.

He carefully placed the mop on the floor but didn't do much more than that. Instead, he let his eyes follow her as she flitted about his dorm and wiped down robot son with a sort of motherly care that some distant, mostly mute part of his brain found appealing. Then she located the rest of robot family and placed the son between his parents, giving the completed picture a happy smile.

Seki, who had begun to mop because erasing evidence of his adventures was a vital part, ducked his head and smiled.

III .

Yokoi observed the crime scene.

Detectives? He was playing detectives?

Yokoi hummed and gave the mini pool another round of intense scrutiny. The reddened mini-pool, the crack on the floor and the broken diving board made little sense, but…

 _Oh,_ she thought, _maybe robot son was…sabotaged?_

There were small bits and pieces of metal within the water, and slowly, ever so slow,y she pierced together picture that had her gritting her teeth.

So, someone planted a bomb in the water to…to… _kill_ robot son! But _why?_

There was a tap on her shoulder and as she turned Seki was already moving out the door, mop in hand. Miffed as she was, the movement had her noticing the numerous, small medals on robot son's desk.

She gasped.

She understood all too well now, revenge motivated by jealousy. But it was't _right,_ wasn't justified, and really—

"Yokoi-san?" someone's voice echoed out to her, and for a moment she couldn't recognize it but.

Seki was standing at the door way, looking at her with his head tilted to the side and his eyes creased in a way that exuded amusement, "Your phone is ringing."

 _Oh._

Yokoi stood up, brushing down her skirt and went to her room, passing by a Seki and the same amused smile he usually made whenever he teased her.

Yokoi huffed, closing the door behind her, but not with any actual force while Seki, outside, mostly grinned to himself as he closed his.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: You guys are damn right this thing will live on. As long as I don't run out of ideas or steam, anyways. Ergo, go ahead and send prompts or Aus or something, either in PM or just in the reviews.**

 **Speaking of.**

 **Holy shit, I didn't think you guys existed anymore! thanks so much for taking the time to review! :D**

 **(It brings me life.)**

* * *

It's not like Yokoi's never heard Seki ever talk. He did need to recite every once in a while during their high school days.

The thing _is_ that he never talks _to_ her. Not much, anyway. And while she could understand the sentiment within a classroom, there was much less of a need for silence when they were dorm neighbors.

Which was why she really shouldn't have been surprised when she heard his voice again, in regular intervals.

(" _Yokoi-san._ ")

But that didn't really detract from the fact that hearing his voice was _weird._

Not that it _sounded_ weird, if anything it was a rather pleasant, low tone, but _still._ Months and months of silence made her accustomed to reading his face and body language for communication instead of listening to him.

So, yeah, it needed some getting used to.

"Yokoi-san, you did this wrong," and _there it was,_ that stupid _lilt_ in his voice whenever she did something stupid that he found funny.

It needed a _lot_ of getting used to.

" _Thank you for pointing that out,_ " Yokoi stiffly got out, and Seki beamed at her. She didn't trust that face. It was too reminiscent of his practiced businessman smile.

"Shouldn't you be studying?" she whispered to him, face mostly hidden behind her book, because there were several librarians wandering about the study hall. Why, she didn't really know, but she heard something about a convention, maybe?

Seki,predictably, ignored her statement and withdrew from the math worksheet he took from her and started pulling cards from his backpack. He deftly flipped through the stack and started dealing two hands.

Yokoi groaned.

Why was this her life?

Her eyes flicked to the cards and she saw that they weren't normal playing cards. Rather, they had some pretty damn impressive art on them, and Yokoi managed a quick look at the wandering librarians before swiping all the cards to rest on her book. She made a restrained awed noise when she saw the intricate work on them. Said awe turned into irritation at herself when she spotted the gleam in Seki's eyes and his hand outstretched to her.

Tricked again.

Yokoi gave a small sigh before complying. Who was she kidding, she'd never been able to really stop herself or him in playing hokey in the middle of class.

Well, library at the current, but still.

II .

They didn't get caught, miraculously. Yokoi's mind still reeled at the image of the librarian merely passing by their intense game of poker-solitaire-3d-castle-cards (which ended in an almost draw that had Yokoi nearly splitting a cow at Seki's smug, self-assured face) but decided to let it go.

After that game, though, was the resuming of classes. Which was where Seki's mood seemed to drop.

"What?" she'd asked him as they walked out of the library, or Seki followed her out of the library for some reason. Maybe they both had a class in the same building?

Seki's eyes flicked over to her before he shrugged bonelessly, then brought a hand up to scratch at his cheek.

Yokoi frowned to herself, but didn't pry. Not vocally, anyway. Her gently digging her elbow into his side wasn't _prying._

Seki gave her a slight frown, before he sighed and said, "It's not like I can do _anything_ in class. It's not the same as in highschool."

They passed the courtyard and cut through the pool, their destination visible through the trees.

Yokoi took a moment to parse through the stupidly obscure statement, "Ah…your desk?"

He nodded, swinging the book bag hanging off his shoulder, "The teachers don't pay as much attention but that won't mean anything if I can't modify my desk."

One of the people in the pool swam near them and they both deftly avoided the resulting splash.

Seki gave a long, drawn out depressed sigh.

Yokoi discretely rolled her eyes, "Maybe you'll pay attention in class now," she said, a bit uncharitably, maybe.

Seki snorted at the mere suggestion of it, rolling one of his shoulders.

They came to a stop in front of Yokoi's building, and she bid Seki goodbye before climbing up the steps. She paused at the doors, then turned back to see him doing the same.

She winced, turning on her heel almost too fast to see the small wave Seki gave her.

She had a class to go to!

III .

Oh _of course._

It was the hour right after classes, and instead of going with her new found acquaintances to hang out or something, Yokoi instead went right back to her dorms. It wasn't because of the gut feeling churning in her stomach during her afternoon periods, because she wasn't _silly_ like that. No.

It was because of a solidified knowledge in her mind that kept telling her to run back before Seki set something on fire.

And then she came back to the dorms.

Yokoi strangled back a scream, because it wouldn't do her any good, and she needed an adult. Not that they'd do anything, because Seki was too _good_ at covering his tracks when it came to his games, and she'd get blamed for this anyway.

Which meant the only person she could rely on this time was _herself._

Yokoi straightened, squaring her shoulders and set her face into a determined expression.

"Afternoon," Seki greeted her with mild cheer, _never mind the purple flames on his hand._

Yokoi slowly, gently, put her face in her hand and screamed.

Seki flinched at the sound, "Quiet down!"

"Not until you put that out! What if you set something on fire?!"

Seki waved his arm, the one that was on fire, because _of course it was on fire,_ and shook his head, "It's virtually harmless."

"How is _fire_ anywhere near harmless?!"

Seki groaned.

"Put it out!"

IV .

There was a muffled scream from across the hall. Oy vey.

…Wait, it sounded pretty familiar, though.

Uzawa pushed himself out of his chair then walked to his door. There was another round of screaming, but this time it was high-pitched, and distinctly female. It took him a second, but eventually his memories clicked and he placed his fist on his open hand.

Oh!

Man, what were the chances!?

He opened his door and creased his eyes in a friendly manner while his mouth split into a grin, "Hey, guys—!"

And as he suspected, his old classmates paused from their activities, and the open doorway directly across from his revealed Seki covered in water and Yokoi brandishing a hose like a weapon, the nozzle still pointed at the other male. Seki raised a wet arm and gave a greeting that was somehow damp.

Yokoi dropped the hose so fast it must have been on fire, stammered a few words of apology before shooting Seki a stern look and picking the hose back up again.

"You're still cleaning this," Seki called after her when Yokoi hastily went down the hall, presumably to put the hose back, "And I'm not helping!"

Uzawa chuckled.

Guess college wasn't going to be as boring as he thought it would be.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It just occurred to me that this entire series as I'm writing it is rather episodic. Hm.**

 **Also, for the person who said to get more Seki-centric segments, here ya go! It's a bit small, though.**

 **(Cause there is a Seki-centric chapter down the line.)**

I.

The first thing Yokoi said when she saw a large wolf spider climb up her window was:

"Seki-kun! One of your bugs got in my room again!" she yelled at the wall, not bothering to get up from her cozy position on her bed, the book in her lap far more important than that deadly-looking spider. Besides, it was far enough away from her, and it wasn't like spiders could fly, right?

(Of course that didn't really detract from the shivers climbing up her spine, but no one needed to know that.)

There was an unintelligible string of words from the next room, before soft footsteps padding to the door and her front door swung open.

Didn't even knock, how rude.

Yokoi pointed at the general direction of her window, assuming Seki would see it –

"Whoa!" Uzawa's voice broke into her mental voice narrating the novel back to her, and Yokoi's head snapped up to see a stoic-looking Seki and a pale-faced Uzawa, pointing at the spider with shaking fingers, "What are you doing, Yokoi?! Get over here so we can call an exterminator."

She and Seki exchanged a brief, exasperated look; a single, solitary moment of complete and perfect understanding.

 _The fuck is he doing here?_

' _Why is he here?_ ' she tried to will the message to him.

Seki shrugged helplessly and padded across her room to retrieve the spider, easily scooping up the hairy insect and giving her a small wave as he left. Uzawa, on the other hand, stayed, eyeing her tiny room with wide eyes.

" _Wahh,_ " he sounded out, astonished, "Your dorms way nicer than any of the dorms I've visited."

"Thanks," Yokoi replied, because she was polite, and also a little proud. She did spend an entire weekend fixing up her room before. It may have been small, even _tiny_ compared to her actual room back home, but it was hers and felt home-like and so it was good enough.

Uzawa shot her a beaming smile, not unlike Seki's but somehow a lot more… _excruciatingly bright._

"Mind if I stay?" he asked her, despite already making himself comfortable on her floor. Typical.

She _did_ have a nice carpet, though.

Yokoi shook her head and went back to reading, "No. But I don't think you'll find anything to do here, Uzawa-kun."

Uzawa made a vague gesture with his arms from her peripheral vision, but Yokoi paid no mind while she got more and more absorbed with her tale. The clock ticked overhead, and the princess slaying another assassin, her lover crying out to her from the shadows and before she could turn another page, someone's thumb pressing against the pages prevented her from doing so.

Yokoi's eyes traced her gaze from the thumb to the arm and up to the face of Seki, who was looking at her with a strange expression, one she's never seen before. She should probably wonder why he was in here, but:

"…What?" she asked, confused.

His eyes flattened, his entire body language exuding ' _you are an idiot_ ' and Yokoi would have been offended had she not seen blond hair and erratic movement from the corner of her eye.

Uzawa. She left Uzawa alone and unsupervised in her room. Uzawa, alone and unsupervised, with his short attention span and tendency to grab things just because. In her room.

Yokoi froze, jaw slack.

 _She was an idiot._

In front of her, Seki nodded emphatically, then let go of her book. The same book Yokoi snapped shut, then threw off her sheets and bee lined for Uzawa.

Uzawa, who was on her floor surrounded by her various books and whatnot. And while that wasn't too bad in and of itself, aside from the mess she'd be manhandling him into cleaning up, the sight of an inconspicuous, inoffensive, totally out-of-it's-hiding-place diary, was not.

On the plus side, it wasn't opened from its cute little lock.

On the most horrifying side of existence, Uzawa picked it up next and managed to peer in between the hardcovers. Instantly, she snatched it out of his reach and gave him the kind of glare that had Seki experience _flashbacks._

The mischief bled from Uzawa's face.

"Run, dude," Seki was mouthing to him from behind Yokoi, who was visibly struggling with trying _not_ to strangle Uzawa's neck, " _Run!_ "

Yokoi's head snapped up, her eyes glowing malevolently and conveying unspeakable things.

Needless to say, Uzawa left scorchmarks on the floor in his haste to get away.

(Not because he was scared, because _he wasn't scared, who was scared, not him_ but because it would have been awkward to stay there, considering that he'd seen Seki's name in there and he wasn't sure how to feel about that.)

II.

Seki ended up staying over for a few more hours.

Mostly because out of the book pile he'd offered on helping her fix, he found… _this._

Yokoi looked like her soul had flown out to find a new vessel and Seki opened the old, battered sketchpad. The first page had him swallow his own tongue. Because _politeness_ and stuff.

"Shut up," she hissed from somewhere behind him, but she still sounded like she was going to faint.

Seki beamed at her from over his shoulder then sat down on her bed to make himself comfortable.

Yokoi made several sounds akin to a dying gazelle caught in a bear trap while Seki's deft fingers swiftly flipped through pages and pages of old memories turned new traumas, biting down on his lower lip to stop whatever sound from behind his lips to spill over.

Yokoi wished she could have been fast enough to snatch it out of his grasp, but Seki was Seki, and not Uzawa, and therefore was stupidly fast.

And then he reached the last page.

Whatever blood circulating in her head immediately drained down as Seki broke and guffawed, and she knew _exactly_ which sketch did him in. She snatched the sketchbook from his now uncoordinated, weak fingers and, true enough, saw the doodle of the "monster" from her old highschool days.

It was old, slightly faded, and crumpled all to hell but that didn't meant Seki wouldn't immediately connect the dots. She saw him opening his mouth, wiping away tears, and before he could get so much as a syllable in, she cut him off, "You _would_ find this funny, wouldn't you, Demon Lord?"

Seki cut himself off so abruptly one would think she snapped and tried to choke him.

Yokoi smiled, nice and calm and serene, and Seki felt child run up his spine while she padded across the room to put away the sketchpad, and pulled out an old, water damaged portrait.

His soul left him.

Hers came back with a vengeance.

Seki sputtered, arms stretching out to get the portrait from her, but Yokoi stuffed it under her shirt. Seki paused, fingers twitching, and one look at Yokoi's face told him he wouldn't be getting this portrait anytime soon.

"…I won't tell anyone," Seki bargained, "Promise."

Yokoi hummed, crossing her arms over her chest while keeping a grip on the portrait.

"I _swear._ "

She pursed her lips, considering.

"Please?" Seki winced.

Yokoi looked up at her ceiling, decided that she should be more assertive in the future, and pulled out the portrait, "I'm spoiling you," she sighed, and gave it to him.

Seki's face lit up, taking it with a sort of vigor she wasn't sure how to feel about.

Then he broke it in half.

Yokoi screeched, hands shooting up to grasp at the sides of her face, " _Seki-kun_!"

III.

Sharp footsteps on the wooden floor. Yokoi paced behind him as he closed the door to the furnace with relief.

Seki finished burning the disgrace of a creation from his childhood, dusting off his hands, then set them on his hips. Finally, one thing off his mind for good. Nothing to incriminate him _anymore!_

"I shouldn't have given that back," Yokoi was mumbling, breath leaving her in white puffs, rubbing at her upper arms, "Could've used it for something more important."

Seki gave her a cheeky grin, his hand patting her shoulder in a way distinctly mocking.

 _You could have,_ he thought, _but you wouldn't._

Not Yokoi, who was honestly too nice for her own good at times.

Seki breathed out a small wisp of smoke, some vague memory in his mind tugging an image into the forefront of his mind about dragons.

"You won't tell anyone, right?" Yokoi demanded from beside him, face flushed from the cold. Some distant part of his brain poked and prodded at him in the back of his mind—

(" _Seki-kun!_ ")

But he ignored it in favor of smirking mischievously at her.

Yokoi's eyes narrow, "You won't."

He raised his arms in a placating manner, eyes still narrowed and smile too sharp to be sincere.

" _Seki-kun._ "

"I already said, didn't I?" Seki grinned down at her disgusted face. Too easy.

Yokoi threw her arms up and gave up.

III.

Seki grabbed her sleeve.

"What?" Yokoi asked, half-turning to face him. He brought a hand up to point at one of the shops across the street, and Yokoi squinted at the sign, trying not to get blinded by the orange light of the sunset in the background.

"Toyoma's Model Shop?" she read out loud, and Seki nodded with a small smile.

Yokoi's eyes glanced up at his, then back to the shop, "You want to go there? Why?"

Seki shrugged, then gently tugged at her to the shop's direction. Yokoi checked her watch, then hummed.

"Only for a little while," she told Seki, who ignored her and made the way for both of them to the shop.

The door opened with a small chime overhead and Yokoi's eyes widened at the sheer array of models put on display. It was honestly impressive, the scale and size and quality of each and every item. She almost wanted to go to wherever they put their stock out of sheer curiosity.

Yokoi caught Seki's eye mid-trance.

Seki grinned.

Yokoi immediately looked away.

"Seki-kun? Is that you?" someone's voice called out, an old, wavering voice that rasped with every syllable. Yokoi turned to the direction Seki had already faced and saw an elerly man waving to him. He hunched, and leaned heavily on his walking cane, but he had a smile on his face that lit up the store.

"You haven't come in, in a while," the old man mused, tapping his cane softly on the floor, "Welcome back. I assume you need something? Something to order again?"

Seki made a small, but warm smile, and shook his head. Instead, he held out his hand to Yokoi, who stared at the offer.

"Oh, here to show a friend around?"

Seki nodded, and Yokoi leaned around him to wave at the elderly man.

Said elderly man squinted at her.

" _Eh?! What the heck did I do?!_ "

Seki's eyes darted from Yokoi to the old man, then back and forth until he was dizzy. While that was going on, the old man stepped forward and grasped Yokoi's hand.

"Welcome, young lady," he said warmly, "You may call me Toyama, if you wish. It's nice to see Seki making friends with new people."

Seki shot Toyama a look Yokoi couldn't quite decipher, but ignored in favor of returning the greeting. She summoned her warmest smile, an easy feat in the face of a kind old man, "Thank you, Toyama-san."

"Would you kids like some tea?" Toyama offered, letting go of her hand to address both of them.

Seki shook his head and Yokoi smiled apologetically, "Sorry, Toyama-san, but we'll only be here for a few minutes."

"That's alright, then. I'll be at the counter over there if you need anything," Toyama said, nodding at the both of them.

Seki returned the pleasantries before tugging at Yokoi's sleeve once more and pointing to an isle to their left.

Yokoi looked, saw several models she recognized, and sighed, "Don't pull me, okay?"


	4. Chapter 4

I.

They got back to the dorms later than he'd planned to.

Yokoi, surprisingly, didn't really get mad.

Probably because they got to eat dinner over at Toyama's and she didn't need to spend any food money.

She burped lightly, and Seki swallowed back a, in his opinion, witty remark because he could very clearly remember the time she drank far too much of his tea and burped during recital. Good times.

"…That was your fault," Yokoi huffed, almost scowling at him. It would be so much more scary if she wasn't half-way into a food coma.

Seki nodded, a knowing look on his face.

II.

Sakurako Gotou had just moved into her new dorm. She would have moved in sooner, but complications were complications, and she was just glad to finally be here.

Most of her luggage was already moved in for her, but not all, and so Gotou was dragging up her last suit case up to her dorm, passing by streetlights on the sidewalk. Night had fallen earlier, clouds covering the night sky. Gotou looked forward to the day it snowed.

Looking up, she saw that her dorm was a little ways off still. God, this was going to take forever.

Gotou craned her neck to try and spot the door, not quite able to see properly in the dark of the night. She brightened when she spotted a couple on the far end of the building opposite her, and she raised an arm, mouth opening to call them for some help—

"…-Seki-kun!—…"

The wind carried words she wasn't supposed to hear to her and Gotou choked on her own spit.

Oh god.

 _Oh god._

Her arm shot down so fast she felt her joint give out and she almost tripped over her own suitcase while she tried to step away, but. The head of white hair was unmistakeable, so bright in the darkness it was almost a light. Yokoi's voice was irritated but also weirdly exasperatedly fond? And she was with Seki.

Gotou spluttered, grasping at her braids and whirled them around, " _Are they on a date? Are they…going out?!_ "

Y'see, Gotou did, eventually, find out that Yokoi and Seki were not, in fact, an item, or lovers, or had crushes on each other or anything close to that spectrum whatsoever.

…A few months after they entered their senior year. But still, she figured it out. And while she shared nothing with _no one_ about her false discoveries, that didn't mean Gotou couldn't see… _it. It_ didn't disappear even after she figured it out, even after they graduated, and even now.

Gotou shook her head and tugged at her braids.

And maybe it was nothing, or maybe it was everything, but she never said anything in lieu of both humiliation of a multi-year long misunderstanding, or a desire to at least curb her tendency of jumping to conclusions. But that didn't stop her mind from going to places she couldn't help, and she could never control that.

"Gotou-san?" a voice, breath fanning over her skin. Goosebumps rose from under her skin and she jumped.

"Gotou-san! It's okay, it's just me! Yokoi!"

True to form, Yokoi reached out and grabbed her shoulders. Gotou whimpered, but stayed put, and she couldn't look at Yokoi so she looked at Seki.

His eyebrows were almost to his hairline, his mouth set in a line that was both disbelief and slight concern. He tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing and Gotou started shaking hers as vigorously as possible.

 _Oh god oh god oh godohgod—_

"Sorry for interrupting!" she burst out, grabbing her suitcase and backing way up where she wouldn't disturb the cusp of youthful romance.

"I'll, um, see you guys later!" if she sounded decibels higher than she normally did, neither of them commented on it.

"…What the hell was that?" Seki asked Yokoi, because he'd be damned if he knew what the actual hell just happened, and _words_ were needed in this kind of conversation.

Yokoi gave a mystified shake of her head, eyes never leaving the spot where Gotou had dashed around the corner of the building, "I…don't know."

There was a squeak, several loud footsteps, a car honking and a cat screeching from whence Gotou disappeared to.

Seki blinked.

III.

So...that did _not_ go as well as she'd have hoped it would have.

But, but! She could still have a chance! After all, it seemed like they were in the same building, maybe she could explain this and make up!

Right.

 _Right._

Gotou nodded, forming a fist filled with resolution.

She could do this.

Gotou swung her door open and found herself face-to-face with a pajama clad Yokoi standing in front of a bewildered Seki.

They both paused from whatever they were doing to face her.

Gotou paused, took in the scene, took in the disheveled Yokoi (who just rolled out of bed) and the Seki's mussed appearance (who also had just rolled out of his own bed, but more literally) and their reddened faces (the spider went missing again and they both ran around trying to find it) and spluttered out:

"I'm so sorry for ruining your time together!" she shrieked, slammed the door shut. She made a sound akin to that of a wailing seagull and collapsed against her door, sliding down as her legs lost all feeling and seriously contemplated moving dorms in the middle of the semester.

IV.

And under Gotou's bed, something rustled, and a slightly large, hairy spider made itself known, curious as to what could be making those odd noises.

* * *

 _So I wasn't all that happy with the last chapter, and so I deleted it. Here, have Gotou instead XD_


	5. Chapter 5

I.

It was snowing.

Yokoi held her gloved hands close to her face and breathed out, her face flushed. Wisps of smoke dissipated in the air before her, disappearing in the morning air.

It was snowing, and the college cancelled classes due to several issues with the air conditioner, or something. Seki hadn't been paying too much attention when the announcement was made, and when he passed it on to her and her late self he was already dressed and had a bag of…something.

Hence, Yokoi's being in the park. Not because she particularly wanted to, though the park during a snow day was wonderful, but because she spotted fireworks in that bag of Seki's, and she couldn't in good conscience just leave that be.

(Seki caught her following him halfway through and after a very flat, very unimpressed stare that made Yokoi question her life choices, he tugged at her sleeve to get her to come along faster. Yokoi couldn't bring herself to resist due to a very large part of her and her self-esteem regarding her stealth skills being thwarted.)

So now she was here, sitting on a park bench and watching Seki in front of her set up a stupidly elaborate fireworks show, probably. She didn't really know.

II.

Seki pulled out another firecracker and set it on the ground, keeping a close eye on his imaginary grid on the ground to make sure he hadn't placed it wrong. He could see Yokoi in his peripherals, tilting her head to the side in fascination, leaning in for a closer look. It was almost funny, the stirrings in his stomach that gave him all sorts of nostalgia.

He hadn't seen that look since his junior year in highschool.

This time, he fully turned to face her and Seki raised his eyebrows, glancing at her shaking hands, then at the coffee machine, then back.

Yokoi answered by way of a slight huff, before standing up and going to said vending machine. She pulled out her wallet – bunnies, very typical of her – put the coins needed and got out two cans of hot chocolate.

She trodded through the snow, gave him one, and received one of his small, thankful smiles in return.

Yokoi shook her head in a way that was somehow fond, a small smile tugging at her lips and opened her can, "So what is it?"

Seki paused from opening his can, then looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

Yokoi's own pair raised to her hairline, "What? Were you expecting me to freak out or something?"

Seki nodded sagely.

Yokoi mostly gently prodded his side with her elbow, "We're not in highschool anymore, in case you haven't noticed, Seki-kun. Of course I'll change."

Seki side-eyed her, "It's only been a few months since graduation."

"Yeah," Yokoi agreed, looking at the fireworks set on the ground and trying to find some sort of meaningful pattern to them, "But I haven't seen you in a year and a half."

Seki hummed under his breath, finally opening his can. Steam rose from the inside to cover his undecipherable expression.

Yokoi's eyes flicked from the fireworks, to him, then said, "It was weird having someone normal sit beside me for a whole year."

The reactionary eyeroll he made could've been seen in space.

Yokoi chuckled, and mist spread out from her mouth, "No, really. I kept looking for someone to start carving, or driving, or the Robot Family to make an appearance. But I just got disappointed. One time I was accused of copying."

She hummed, closing her eyes. Her pale eyelashes blended perfectly in the scenery, catching the smallest particles of snow.

"..My seatmate mostly ignored me," Seki started, voice a little hoarse, a little rough, just like it got whenever he didn't talk to anyone for very long, "She didn't even notice it when I set something on fire in the class once. I'm pretty sure that was intentional."

"Probably to keep her sanity," Yokoi mumbled dryly into her hot chocolate.

"Yeah? And what does that make you?" Seki asked her, politely mocking her.

"Masochistic?" Yokoi offered, and he could've _sworn_ she timed that right as he was going to drink. Seki choked, hot chocolate catching in his throat. He started coughing so badly he had to start thumping his chest.

And all the while, Yokoi was visibly laughing at his expense.

III.

Apparently it was a paid job.

Yokoi waited for Seki to receive his payment while people started to pile in the park. He eventually got back, pocketing several bills then sat down beside her on the bench.

In front of them, several men were preparing flints to light up the fireworks. Yokoi looked on in obvious wonder, then looked up. The trees obscured the sky. Normally a good thing on a sunny day, but terrible for a firework's viewing session.

She looked up at the branches, trying to find a clearing in the canopy, craning her neck back and forth. The leaves rustled in the wind.

But no, the leaves ruslted because of Seki, who was crawling on one of the branches.

Yokoi gasped, "Seki-kun! Get down from there!"

But he only gave her a dismissive wave, parting branches and foliage over his head to get himself a better view. Then he took several thin branches and twigs together and started weaving them.

Yokoi watched as it soon became apparent he constructed something like a support beam or two, then brought out a hammock from the bag Yokoi previously thought empty, and tied it to the branches. He sat on it, snuggling against the tree trunk.

She glared at him.

He noticed.

Then Seki raised a hand to wave at her, face irrefutably smug.

Yokoi's eyes narrowed.

Seki, however, instead of doing the usual play of setting her off even more, instead held out one of his hands to her.

Yokoi blinked, taking a step back, squinting at the offered ahnd, "You want me to come up there?"

He nodded.

Yokoi pursed he lips, looking around, finding too many people around her to really enjoy the show.

"Fine," she answered, and took his hand.

Seki smiled down at her.


	6. Chapter 6

I.

They didn't fall, but Yokoi was seriously considering just jumping off. If only for the sake of her sanity.

She was currently pressed against Seki's side, mostly due to a lack of space and the poor physical limitations of a small hammock that wasn't designed to hold two people at once. At least it was sturdy.

Yokoi wiggled her way to the other side, but didn't accomplish anything but making the both of them discomfited, and so she quietly stewed while people down on the ground somehow missed two (mostly) grown adults up in the trees. Unbelievable.

But…

Yokoi looked up at the sky, clear of snow and clouds and only showing a few distant stars. It was a good view. She could vaguely hear the sound of crackling somewhere below, and she closed her eyes.

People murmured, clothes rustling, voices blending into a low cacophony. There was a continuous sound of snow going _crunch, crunch, crunch…_

Seki prodded at her side.

Yokoi opened her eyes and saw him _way_ closer than she was used to.

But before she could even flinch back, he smiled radiantly at her and pointed up at the sky.

She followed the direction he was pointing at and drew in a breath. Colors exploded in the sky, light reflecting back down on the Earth while they bled out of existence. Another round, this time making an audible shape, a dragon weeping in the sky.

Yokoi brought her hands up and clenched them together at chest-level.

"Beautiful…" she breathed out, eyes widening as the show got more and more elaborate. Flowers and animals and everything you could name burning in the sky.

And Seki could agree, he made it after all, but one glance at the colors reflected on her pale lashes and he forgot to look back at the sky.

II.

Breath fanned out on her skin.

Yokoi side-eyed Seki beside her, "You're hopeless Why didn't you bring a scarf?"

He didn't bother answering her, merely rubbing at his arms faster.

Yokoi sighed through her nose, but unwound her scarf from her neck. Seki almost flinched back when she gave it to him, but she thrust it at his chest without listening to whatever protest he could have made, then pulled up her hood.

"Before you freeze to death," she clarified, and curled up in the hammock. Whatever plans she had of jumping off was null, now that the park was so crowded she couldn't even see an opening in the throng of people.

Seki made a face but complied anyway, wrapping the scarf around his neck with ease.

The fireworks crew were setting up the next part of the show down below, and so the resulting quiet among the crowd was expected. Children shrieked to their parents, adults shuffled along with their spouses, and still no one took notice of the two people sitting on a hammock high on a tree.

III.

"It's Uzawa-kun!"

Seki almost jumped off.

Yokoi snickered.

Seki turned and glared at her, to no avail. He scanned the crowd for that obnoxiously bright head of blonde hair, but couldn't find anything after several minutes of searching. His eyes narrowed.

Yokoi took pity on him, "He was just passing by, over at the street. I'm sure he was just heading home."

Seki cast her a suspicious glance, but ultimately settled back down.

The first of the second act exploded into the sky.

Yokoi glanced up, "Hey," she said.

Seki's eyes flitted to her, his arms crossed over his chest. He'd covered half of his face with her scarf, carefully ignoring the girlish scent from the fabric. His hands were cold but his side wasn't, and he tried not to think too hard about that.

"During senior year…" she started off wearily, he could hear it in her voice. Always transparent, always so open, "I know we didn't have the same classes anymore but, why didn't I ever see you?"

Seki blinked, eyes widening a fraction. Where the hell did that come from?

She saw this and curled in on herself a bit, "I mean, I know this is a weird question but, I was just thinking. We were still in the same school, it's not like I wouldn't pass you in the halls a few times, right?"

Well, he could understand that. Seki looked away from her imploring face and at the sky, trying to think. His fingers itched. The cold must have started setting in.

"But I didn't," Yokoi continued. The silence on his part must have ended up making her feel awkward, "I even tried to see which class you were in, but when I couldn't find you I just…gave up."

He didn't know why just _saying_ it was hard, and it shouldn't have been, because it wasn't like it was a secret, but…

"I transferred," he muttered under his breath, and _oh,_ look at that, snow started to fall again, "Got caught in the hallways around the end of junior year."

"…Oh," he could hear her answer, and Seki sighed.

"Yeah," he said, voice monotone, "'Oh'. Guess you won at the end, huh?"

IV.

Maybe she shouldn't have pursued that topic after all.

Yokoi watched the last dredges of light disappear as the fireworks show ended. They didn't talk after anymore after Seki's odd reply, and Yokoi was only a little ashamed to admit that she kept stealing little glances at her quiet companion every once in a while.

Seki didn't _look_ upset, at her or anything at all. If anything he was pretty happy, looking up at the show with a sort of childishness she'd expect from someone in their prepubescent years.

But _still._

That reply, while not _unusual,_ certainly wasn't _common,_ and the senses in her head were telling her something was wrong.

Another loud shot rang through the air, and Yokoi glanced at Seki just as a green firework exploded.

Light reflected off his eyes quite nicely, some distant part of her noted in the farthest corner of her brain.

After a few more minutes, the show ended, and the throng of people gradually thinned out to only a few parents indulging their children for a late night snack. Yokoi placed her hands over her stomach and felt it growl under her fingers.

Several children looked up and around for the sound.

"Momma, what was that?"

Yokoi quietly and carefully set her face in her hands and choked down a scream.

Seki bit down on his lip as hard as possible, which was useless in the face of his flushed face and shaking shoulders.

" _Nice_."

Seki grinned cheekily at the stern glare he received, despite his leaning away from her.

"We should go back now," Yokoi grit out, wiggling her way out of the hammock and onto a tree branch nearby, "It's late."

He nodded, though not without somehow exuding the amusement he felt at her expense, somehow, and started bringing down the hammock while she climbed down.


End file.
